Use of unprescribed hormones in the body modification of travestis and transsexual women in Salvador/Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the use of non-prescribed hormones among travestis and transgender women (TrTGW) in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. This cross-sectional study used the Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) methodology to re-cruit TrTGW from 2014 to 2016 in Salvador and the Metropolitan Region. A comparative analysis was carried out between sociodemographic, be-havioral, and gender declaration conditions using hormones. The RDS-II estimator weighted the data. Stata version 14 was used for statistical analyses. One hundred twenty-seven TrTGW were recruited. From the studied sample, 69.1% of par-ticipants used non-prescribed hormones, which was associated with industrial liquid silicone use and body satisfaction. The TrTGW who were com-fortable with the penis and felt pleasure with the penis used hormone less. The seropositive partic-ipants reported a higher proportion of hormone use. The non-prescribed use of hormones was used by most TrTGW. This use is likely associated with better satisfaction with self-image and body among TrTGW. Elevated and exacerbated use of these hormones was identified, probably due to the rare access to public health services.